Teacher Wellbeing
Summary: Happy, healthy people are more effective teachers and more productive members of society. Yet, an increasing number of teachers are suffering stress-related illness and burnout. Some of these educators struggle through at a reduced capacity, but quite a lot just leave the profession altogether. Many educators put everyone else's health and happiness before their own, because they just want to make a difference. However, it backfires because the external expectations and demands of the job keep increasing regardless of the dwindling reserves of teachers. This podcast aims to facilitate and contribute to the conversation about teacher wellbeing, positive schools and burnout prevention, to inspire and empower educators of all kinds to take back control of their health and happiness by being proactive about their wellbeing, and to give teachers permission to put themselves first, so that they can go on making a difference long into the future.
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- Artist: Ellen Ronalds Keene
Podcasts:
In this episode, Ellen interviews Broden. Broden is an Aussie high school English teacher living and working in London. He shares his experiences of the differences between the education systems in Australia and the U.K. as well as a bit about how he tries to work smarter instead of harder. "Do your marking on the tube! What else are you going to do? It's down time. You might as well get things done so that when you get home you can do whatever else you need to do."
In this episode, Ellen interviews LeeAnne from Holistically Healthy Teacher. LeeAnne was a teacher for 19 years and spent most of that time in early childhood and special education in rural, public schools. Now she's an Integrative Nutritionist with a passion for health and wellness, work with teachers to support their health and wellness.
In this episode, Ellen interviews a 2nd year teacher. Having started her career as a social worker (another career with high burnout rates) and growing up with a family of teachers, Jane entered the teaching profession with a better understanding than most of the work expected and how important self-care is for sustained health and wellbeing. And yet, she found she was not immune from the typical challenges of first-year teaching.
Do you ever think about your thinking? The language that we use, whether thinking or speaking, has a powerful impact on the way we experience the world. One example of this is the word tolerance, which has a lot of positive connotations. People associate it with noble concepts such as multiculturalism, religious freedom, harmony in relationships and even world peace. Indeed, many people list tolerance as one of their highest values. But ask someone what they are tolerating in their life and the answer will likely be a list of things that are actually leading to a great deal of stress and negativity for them. In this episode, Ellen explores why tolerance isn't a long term solution and offers a different word to use instead.
This episode is a must for anyone who has struggled with depression or feels like something is missing in their life. Carolyn shares her journey, and it's a deep and very meaningful conversation. I resonated with this story so much, and I feel that my life is better for having crossed paths with Carolyn. This is real and honest and vulnerable, and just the kinds of conversations we all need to be having to build stronger connections and richer communities.
This question comes up a lot, and it is important to address. Yet asking 'Is Self-Care Selfish?' also kind of misses the point. It hints at but doesn't properly acknowledge some of our deepest fears. In this episode, Ellen explores some alternative questions to ask instead to get to the heart of the issue.
Ellen speaks to Daniel, an Aussie teaching in an International School. We hear his experiences and insights about teaching in a variety of contexts, maintaining health while balancing not only the pressures of the classroom but also language barriers and culture shock, as well as the benefits of taking bold action to make amazing memories early in your teaching career. "If you are a pre-service teacher, hang in there. It is really difficult but the rewards are amazing."
What is Self-Care? What are the barriers to self-care and why do they hold us back? What does teaching and self-care have to do with International Women's Day? In this episode, Ellen discusses the five facets of self-care, why guilt is the number one self-care sabotage how self-care can help you #BeBoldForChange this IWD. "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare." ~ Audrey Lorde
Ellen interviews Shailee, a high school teacher who took some time away from teaching in order to figure out how to balance her passion for making an impact with having a life of her own. "It's realising that I can be very good at what I do, I can enjoy what I do, without being what I do."
In this episode, Ellen shares a children's story that can serve as a helpful reminder for preventing burnout, as well as a number of useful metaphors to illustrate the point.
In the first teacher story episode, Ellen interviews Rebekah, a high school teacher who has some valuable insights to share about growing up, finding yourself, being 'too busy' and that elusive work-life balance. "When you do achieve that balance, work satisfaction actually increases. I don't think I've been happier in my job than right now, and yet I've had to make some of these hard decisions. And I'm not investing my whole life into it, but I feel more passionate about it than ever!"
In this episode, the host is in the hot seat. Ellen tells her story from ill-health to wellbeing in the education system, shares the changes she made in her life to prioritise her health and happiness and explains what self-care means to her.
In this episode, Ellen explains why she started this podcast, what the podcast is about, who is this show for and what you can expect from this podcast going forward.
